SharpSpine's OneBlade Journal (now w/ CORE)

You must have a heck of a steel beard, lol......

This is the reason I can't use DE blades at all.

January 6, 2016 -- Oh Yeah!

My blade experiment came much closer to completion today. Less than a week ago I used a Feather Hi-Stainless blade to shave 2 days of my growth. It was a less than stellar shave, and the following shave on much less stubble was even worse. That was only the 2nd & 3rd use on that blade. Today, I shaved 2 days of growth effortlessly using a de-spined GEM SS PTFE blade on its 4th use. If my shave in the morning is also really good, then I will undoubtedly be done comparing these two blades.

If a GEM blade can perform better on shaves 4 & 5 than a Feather can on 2 & 3, then to me it's pretty obvious which is the better performer. After the disastrous results with the Feather blade on my 2 day old stubble I can now only summise that Feather sacrifices blade longevity for blade sharpness via a thinner keen edge, or leading edge as OneBlade likes to refer to it. The performance of the GEM today confirms that the razor head geometry can handle my extra growth just fine. The Feather blade, however, not so much.

On a different topic I think I can now understand better why my DE wielding brethren like a razor head that fully covers the tabs on the blade. Take a look below at how much of the Feather Hi-Stainless blade sticks out of the back of the razor head.

Feather Hi-Stainless blade loaded

Now take a look at how much sleeker the razor head is with the GEM blade loaded. No blade is hanging out of the back to catch on anything. If only the nubs inside the head were shaped to fully accept this blade.

GEM SS PTFE blade loaded

Really looking forward to my next OneBlade shave...

Thanks for sharing Brian.

Could've been a bad blade, as your previous Feather seemed to have performed fine for 7 shaves or so.

My question would be why to assume longer growth would degrade a blade faster than shorter growth, especially considering the margin of 2 shaves to 7... It's not as if the facial hair is any thicker, just longer...

I also think for the experiment to be fair, each blade should be new, with each shave shaving similar conditions in their shave count.

Just my 2 cents... Am continuing to follow with interest.

You do realize Len that the blade that performed better had more uses. New blades may perform similarly, but based on how the Feather broke down for me I don't see shave 2 being good after starting on a 2 days growth. Whereas, the GEM blade tore right through my beard as expected. This is the same issue I had with the Feather blades back when I used them in a Valet AutoStrop. I can't explain it, but when more cutting is needed, the blade breaks down. And it breaks down epically fast and more along the lines of a DE blade when it is done. Less than perfectly sharp DE blades lead to nicks, weepers and irritation. This is what I got from the Feather Hi-Stainless. However, when the GEM blades start to dull they don't destroy your face, and they keep cutting stubble for weeks to come with only slightly greater tactile feedback.

Thanks for your follow up explanation, Brian. Makes sense.

Perhaps this is why OneBlade recommends only one shave with the Feather before tossing. Maybe in their testing, men with similar hair to yours couldn't get beyond 1 shave on multiple days growth, and they wanted to be sure all shaves were consistent.

Thanks for your follow up explanation, Brian. Makes sense.

Perhaps this is why OneBlade recommends only one shave with the Feather before tossing. Maybe in their testing, men with similar hair to yours couldn't get beyond 1 shave on multiple days growth, and they wanted to be sure all shaves were consistent.

that seems pretty ridiculous, to be honest. I think most people expect more than 1 shave from even the cheapest razors/blades out there, let alone blades that run $.65 or $.54 per blade (based on Brian's comment here), depending on how many you buy...that's quite expensive for a blade in the wet shaving world.

I'm not sure why they just didn't try to use something like the GEM SS PTFE blades - a blade that's known to give a lot of comfortable and close shaves for very cheap ($.17 per blade @ $34.95/200).

I don't know andrewjs18 , I have no complaints with the Feather FHS SE, and I certainly have never had a a rough shave with one. I've consistently had two great shaves per blade, and then it dulls, requiring more work after dulling, but never rough or dangerous. (BTW, thanks Brian, stropping has brought up the shave count to 4.)

If I had rough or bad shaves with the Feather, I'd consider trying the GEM, but in my experience, it is a very high quality blade while it lasts. Sharp, efficient, and smooth.

I also don't think OneBlade was interested in what blade was cheapest, but rather what blade was best from the start, regardless of cost. If the Feather breaks down faster, I suspect it is because what Brian also suspects... The Feather's leading, or keen, edge is sharper, and a sharper edge nessesarilly will dull faster than a less sharp, thicker edge.

You don't spend $300 on a razor just to wring your hands over the difference of pennies on a blade.

If the de-spined GEM SS PTFE can perform better on shaves 1 and 2 than the Feather FHS, I would definitely switch. But I doubt it does perform better out of the gate.

If the de-spined GEM SS PTFE can perform better on shaves 1 and 2 than the Feather FHS, I would definitely switch. But I doubt it does perform better out of the gate.

You should try it for yourself to see Len. Even if I tell you that I find the GEM blade to be better than the Feather on the first shave it still won't really mean much to you. So far I've only had one "first shave" with a GEM & two "first shaves" with a Feather so it's hard for me to say if one was unequivocally better. However, they certainly were very close.

I hope you keep enjoying the FHS blades Len, but if my shave here shortly is another good one on the GEM blade, then I will most likely declare the GEM blade better than the FHS blade, for me. In case of a dud blade last time from Feather, I will plan on using a fresh FHS blade to shave the next time that I have 2+ days of growth to remove.

Well, it's not something I'd even think of trying were it not for your reports, Brian. However, your opinion matters to me, and I'm sure your use of the GEM will prompt other OneBlade owners to try despined GEM's.

I look forward to reading other reports before I try, though, because going the extra step of 'despining', will not be personally worth the trouble unless I can get better shaves from a fresh GEM blade as compared to a fresh Feather blade.

(As a side note comparison, I compare OneBlade in several ways to Apple products. Top of the line material, presentation, and marketing using innovative, disruptive technology for a whole new unique user experience. And while not proprietary in the strictest sense, their designing a razor around a single blade is sort of like that. Again, Applesque...

I liken using the GEM in the OneBlade to 'jailbreaking' an iPhone. Although at least after the OneBlade is 'jailbroken' using a GEM, you can still go back to the original 'operating system' with the Feather.

Big props to everyone willing to experiment, and try something unconventional.     )